How do you know?

How do you know if God loves you?

Look to the cross. If you see there a man who is God in the flesh dying for your sins,

then you may be assured that God loves you.

Irony

How ironic that I gave up my 'Christian' name when I was ordained. I am now known as "Pastor."

Diverse

If James, Paul and Peter could unify, it is an embarrassment to the rest of us who can't.

So what is it? Lovelessness? Laziness?

Church of the Nativity, Jerusalem

I don't remember where I heard this, so it's legendary -

The reformers approached the eastern Christians with their ideas for Reform of The Church, with an eye toward unity. The eastern Christians replied with great interest, indicating that the reformers should get back to them once the Reform was accomplished.

Still waiting.

The tragedy of the Reformation is in its misnomer, for we have truly failed to reform. Even if we could claim to have reformed our part of the Church, such reform has come at the cost of schism, which is a price too high. We have not reformed The Church.

We genuinely wish that Rome had not used excommunication on the reform movement, but had instead, perhaps, allowed continued debate in unity. Would that their response had been similar to that given to Galileo, which went something like this: Those are interesting ideas, but the church and world are not ready for them yet. Let's discuss them further before teaching them as fact.

Similarly, we genuinely wish the reform movement had stronger desire for unity. Luther's hard-headed responses were not helpful. The result is that it is all too easy to form another "Church" at a moment's notice. Simply excommunicate everyone else, and the job's done.

One Exception

Maybe this is an exception to the above, or maybe the Priest/Prophet distinction doesn't work quite perfectly. Or maybe this is a function of priesthood after all. But in one case, we all may speak to each other with the voice of God -

notably -

"In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I absolve you of all your sin."

One guess: what makes absolution a function of priesthood and not prophethood is that forgiveness is not permission.

Maybe Not So Pious

Because it was one of the most useful distinctions I learned in seminary, it is also one of the most memorable. A priest speaks to God with the voice of the people; a prophet speaks to the people with the voice of God.

Unfortunately, because of our addiction to, and abuse of, the doctrine called the Priesthood of All Believers (which my friend already calls a "pious myth"), we have accidentally committed ourselves to the Prophethood of All Believers, and the Theologianhood of All Believers. It doesn't matter what you believe or even what you do about it, as long as you don't learn it from someone else.

Originally, the Priesthood of All Believers was put forward as a way to allow princes to act as emergency bishops. That's all. See how much we have overplayed this gift, that now, when a theological issue is placed before us, we consider that everyone's theological opinion is just as good as everyone else's theological opinion; and the best way to decide an issue is to vote on it.

There are two excellent ways to wreck a church, and one is to turn it into a democracy.

The best way to understand the Priesthood of All Believers doctrine for us is to remember its limitations. It is correct when it simply means that anyone can approach God in prayer without intermediary other than Christ, that is, to speak to God with the voice of the people. Any more is too much, and leads in the direction of Delusion.

Thank you, Rodger

My friend is consistent in naming Incurvatus In Se, which is one of the better definitions of Sin, and is very Lutheran. As noted earlier, false humility becomes a form of pride in that it too focuses on the self.

Have you ever noticed how falsely humble people never do look outside themselves for what they presumably lack?